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Of Leadership

God, in his goodness and grace, called me to be an evangelist, pastor and teacher. These different responsibilities have been mine for over forty years both in and outside of churches. During these years I have been aware of unpleasantness in some churches. Here are a few general examples:

• the pastor has been an autocrat;
• the pastor has been called to a “pastor-eating church;”
• the church is “owned” by one or two families who “hire” and “fire”
pastors—who “chew them up and spit them out;”
• the church finds it easy to “choose up sides” within the church.

People tolerate, condone and allow all sorts of irregularities in a church until they are in excess. Then the Christians get angry and endeavor to correct the situation with bitterness, anger and clamor.1 The correction is not done in a Christian way. Correction must be done gently, spiritually and with all planks removed.

"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (Galatians 6:1)

Notice the text says “you who are spiritual,” not “you who are right.” If you are ”not spiritual,” you are not qualified to do the restoring. If you are not gentle, you are not qualified nor are you effective in restoring your brother.

"You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye." (Matthew 7:5)

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